


Mud Ball And Dragon Slaying

by tumblruserpailylove



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: Bedtime Stories, Child, Cute, Dragons, Evil King, F/F, Fluff, Love Story, Prompt Fic, Tumblr Prompt, fairy tale, paily as parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-07-04 16:44:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15845289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tumblruserpailylove/pseuds/tumblruserpailylove
Summary: Prompt fill: What happens when Paige and Emily’s daughter asks her mom to tell her a bedtime story?





	Mud Ball And Dragon Slaying

**Author's Note:**

> (Just moving my old works from ffnet and tumblr to here)  
> (I have not re-read or edited any of my old works so sorry if they're horrible)

“Momma?” Natalie whispered to her mom softly, hoping she heard her before she turned off the light and shut the door.

“Yes, baby?” Paige paused at the door and turned, giving her daughter a soft smile.

“What’s your favorite fairy tale?” The little girl gave a sheepish grin, hoping to lure her mom into telling her. They didn’t encourage Natalie to stay up past her set bedtime. They had read in every parenting book that it was important to have a schedule and stick to it.  It would help develop their natural body clocks and promote good sleeping habits when they were older.

Paige bit her lip and looked out into the hallway before glancing back at her daughter and nodding. She pushed the door closed then moved over to the bed and patted Natalie’s leg for her to scoot over in bed. “Now don’t tell mommy I let you stay up to hear the story, okay?”

“Deal” The five year old said with a grin and sat up. She scooted over to make room for Paige and as soon as she was in the bed, Natalie climbed onto her lap and laid her head against her chest. She wrapped her little arms around one of Paige’s forearms and nodded “I’m ready.”

“Oh are you?” Paige laughed softly, kissing the top if her head and stroking her fingers lightly down her back. “Now my favorite fairy tale starts with a young girl, just a few years older than you actually.”

“What’s her name?” Natalie whispered.

Paige smiled and kissed her head again “We will call her Penelope. Now Penelope was a pretty average girl. She liked the same things all little girls liked, for the most part. Her parents were a little surprised when she took a liking to mud ball because that was mostly a boys sport.”

“But girls can play sports, momma.”

“I know baby” Paige said with a laugh “But in this story, girls weren’t supposed to so just remember that okay?”

“Okay” The girl nodded and brought her head back to rest against Paige’s chest.

Paige smirked then continued “Against her parent’s wishes, Penelope decided to participate in mud ball with the boys. It caused quite a stir at first but once they saw how good she was, they were all too happy to let her join in. Some of the boys didn’t like it and wanted her kicked off the team but she was their best player so the coaches wouldn’t allow it.”

“Over the years Penelope got so good that it inspired other girls to join up and play. Pretty soon there were enough girls playing that they could make a few girl teams around the city to compete in their very own league. Penelope was excited. She had not only gotten to play mud ball but inspired other girls to do the same. She felt like a hero.”

“Momma this doesn’t sound like a fairy tale” Natalie glanced up and frowned.

“Baby I’m getting there” Paige said with a laugh “I had to set the mood. Stop interrupting me or you’ll be up forever.”

Natalie let out a giggle then lay her curly haired head back onto Paige’s chest “Okay keep going.”

“Thank you” Paige laughed softly. “I will skip ahead to the good part. So one day when she was about eleven, Penelope went up against one of the other girl teams in the town. They weren’t that good as a whole but they had this one player who was just as good, if not better than Penelope herself. It drove Penelope crazy and she wanted nothing more than to beat her. After the match, a match Penelope’s team lost, they were shaking hands with the other team to show sportsmanship. Penelope wasn’t in the mood so her head was hung low and her eyes empty of all sincerity as she congratulated each girl on the team.”

Natalie yawned and shifted, but didn’t interrupt this time.

“When Penelope got to the last person in line, she held out her hand for a shake and mumbled a half-hearted “Congrats” to the girl. Then she heard the sweetest sound she had ever heard in her life. It was the other girl, the one that was better than her. The girl pushed back her mud coated hair and Penelope’s eyes met hers and she saw a bright smile come shining through the mud on her face and heard the voice of an angel speak to her. She said ‘Thank you. You played great. I’ve wanted to meet you for so long. You are the reason I started playing.’”

“Now Penelope didn’t know what had just happened but she suddenly didn’t hate this girl at all. In fact she wanted to stare into her eyes and hold her hand forever. But as quickly as the feeling had come, it vanished, as the other team was swept away to their bus to return to their homes. That night Penelope tossed and turned and wondered why she didn’t hate this girl. Her competitive spirit caused her to hate everyone but she couldn’t bring herself to hate this girl.”

“You’re not supposed to hate no one” Natalie mumbled softly. 

“I know baby, but this is just a story.” She stroked her daughter’s head once and smiled before going on. “Now year after year the two girls would meet in games and year after year Penelope would get beaten by the other girl. It started to grow a little old only because Penelope loved winning. Her inability to dislike this girl was getting on her nerves too and somewhere in the back of her head she managed to find that competitive spirit. Now all she wanted to do was beat this girl. She was an angel and every time Penelope saw her she got a funny feeling in her stomach, but now she also had the urge to pulverize her too.”

“I don’t like Penelope.”

“Penelope didn’t like Penelope either” Paige said with a shrug “One day when both girls were fifteen they went to a new school and ended up going for the same mud ball team. Penelope was so mad that this girl was in her school and on her team. She wanted nothing more than to see this girl disappear. But the girl wasn’t going anywhere. Penelope did everything she could to try and push this girl away. She would hit her too hard at practice and threaten to take her spot. She even once held her face in mud after a tackle just to scare her. But it didn’t work. The girl kept coming back and never retaliated.”

“Retaliated?” Natalie looked up curiously.

“Got her back” Paige said with a nod and Natalie nodded and laid her head back down. “One day after nearly being kicked off the team because of her actions, Penelope had a good long talk with herself and discovered why she wanted this other girl gone so much. It wasn’t because she was better than her at the game she loved but it was because she had feelings for her. Scary feelings. She didn’t know how to handle those feelings so she lashed out.”

She paused and looked down at Natalie who seemed to be listening now more intently than before. Neither of the girls noticed that Emily had arrived home and was standing in the cracked doorway, listening.

“So Penelope decided to be nice to Amelia, that was the other girl’s name. She stopped trying to bully her and started being a friend to her. The two of them grew very close the next few years. Penelope went out of her way to see Amelia smile. She would do anything to protect her, even put her own life in danger to save Amelia. One night, an evil dragon kidnapped Penelope and tried to lure Amelia in so he could eat her but Penelope told her to run away as fast as she could! Penelope managed to escape as well and slay the dragon with a single blow.”

Okay so that’s not how it went in real life, but it was close enough.

“After the dragon, the girls grew closer. One day Penelope couldn’t help herself and she had to tell the girl how she felt. She tried, but no words came out, so instead she leaned in and kissed her softly. She expected Amelia to be upset, but she wasn’t. The girl just smiled and kissed her back.”

Emily smiled from the doorway. This story was sounding a little too familiar, even if the events were a little mixed up and embellished. 

“Penelope spent the next few years of her life showing Amelia how much she loved her. She bought her flowers, and a horse, and built her a cottage from the ground up with her bare hands. Everything was happy until one day Penelope’s father came and took her away from Amelia and the house they had built!”

Paige glanced down and saw her daughter was fighting sleep now. She smiled and lowered her voice the next time she spoke. “Penelope was locked in the tower in her father’s castle and told she would never see Amelia again. She tried many times to escape only to be dragged back to her cell and punished. After many months she had given up. Every night was spent near the castle window, crying, hoping she would die so the pain of being away from her love would fade.”

Emily perked an eyebrow at the new development in the story. She didn’t remember this part.

“One night as the castle slumbered a black figure slid their way through the castle’s shadows until they reached Penelope’s cell. Like a ninja the figure took out the guards, stole the keys, and opened the cell door. Without a word, the mysterious person lifted Penelope from her bed and ran with her out of the castle and into the night. When the angry king awoke the next morning and found his daughter missing, a man hunt was ordered.”

“It wasn’t until the day broke in the morning that the mysterious person set Penelope down by a lake, offered her food and water, and revealed their self to her. As the dark cloak came off, Penelope was struck by a familiar face. It was the mud covered face she had seen so many years before. The same bright smile shone through the dirt, and that same sweet voice met her ears. “I couldn’t go one living one more day without you.”

“The two embraced in a loving kiss before getting back to their feet. They fled through the forest and several towns over. Eventually they were able to find a man with a boat willing to help them escape for good. Together they sailed to a new land, started a new life, and were by each other’s sides until the day they died.”

Paige paused and looked down at her daughter with a smile. When she was silent for a moment and the girl did not stir she knew she was finally asleep. Gently Paige slid out of the tiny bed and laid her down under the covers, tucking her in and kissing her forehead gently “Goodnight my little princess.”

Paige slowly tip toed her way out of the room, closing the door as silently as she could behind her. When she turned to move down the hall toward her own bedroom, she nearly screamed bloody murder as she ran right into Emily who was standing there waiting. She put a hand to her heart and took a few breaths before letting out a laugh “Em, Jesus, you scared me. What are you doing?”

“I got home and couldn’t find you” Emily smirked, reaching her hand out to smooth Paige’s frazzled hair on the side of her head. “When I finally found you, I couldn’t help but overhear your story.”

Paige blushed and looked at her feet “I know we’re not supposed to let her stay up past nine but she asked and I thought it wouldn’t hurt.”

Emily fought a laugh and moved her hand to life Paige’s chin so their eyes could meet. She perked an eyebrow and shrugged a shoulder “Penelope and Amelia, huh?”

“Creative, right?” Paige said with a grin.

“A dragon? I don’t remember there being a dragon, especially not one you slayed.”

“Creative license?” Paige offered with a shrug before laughing softly. 

“Your father taking you away?” Emily asked with a smirk.

“Dramatic effect?”

Emily rolled her eyes and leaned in to kiss her lips a few times lightly. “That’s the story you told her? It’s not really a fairytale, you know?”

Paige shook her head and reached her hand out to place it against Emily’s cheek. She looked right into those bright brown eyes that always anchored her soul and nodded her head “It’s my fairytale, Em. You’re my fairytale. I got the girl I’ve always loved in the end. How is that not a fairytale?”

Emily blushed and turned her head to kiss Paige’s palm before letting out a laugh “Nice save, cheeseball.” She turned and grabbed Paige’s hand, pulling her now toward their bedroom. “For that, you get the girl tonight.”

Paige smirked and gave a silent fist pump of celebration as the girls disappeared into the room. Being a cheeseball never failed to get the girl.


End file.
